RCD Espanyol defeated Celta Vigo 2-1 here for their first victory of the 2017-2018 La Liga football season.
The hosts got off to a strong start on Monday and threatened the Celta net twice before taking a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute through a goal by Gerard Moreno, reports Efe.
Celta were stymied by the Espanyol defence and their only opportunity in the first half was an ineffectual Iago Aspas header in the 18th minute.
Maxi Gomez, Celta's top scorer with four goals, was practically invisible throughout the contest at Cornella-El Prat stadium.
Espanyol increased their lead to 2-0 in the 23nd minute, when Pablo Piatti stole the ball from Gustavo Cabral and worked a combination with Jose Manuel Jurado before beating Celta goalkeeper Sergio.
The pace slowed in the second half, with Espanyol seemingly content to sit on their lead as the visitors continued to struggle on the attack.
Celta improved as the minutes passed and Aspas nearly clawed back a goal on a corner kick not long before Pione Sisto found the back of the Espanyol net in the 69th minute to cut the hosts' lead in half.
The visitors went into high gear in pursuit of the equalizer, but Espanyol hung on to take all three points and vault out of the drop zone into 16th place, with four points from four matches, one more than Celta.
--IANS
pur/bg
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